Job Interviews

Don't tell what you got. Tell me if you got what I need

During an interview, a candidate went on and on about his experience and I was thinking...Damn! He has all the skills required to do great work but he isn't THE guy for the job coz he can't do much (for us) with what he knows.

"You can have the exact same guitar as Jimi Hendrix, but when you play, it will sound like you, not like Jimi Hendrix."

I have made a few mistakes as a job seeker as well as an employer. And over the years, I (an erstwhile Vice President - Marketing & HR) have realised a few things that I believe can help you with your interviews or help you be an effective hiring manager.

There is no substitute for sheer talent. If you are in the top 5 percentile of your job market, please don't bother reading this post because you are irresistible to several organisations and they are ready to bend their rules to get you onboard.

Assuming you have the right talent and are still having problems landing the top job, then the below points will be helpful. Job seekers can, for all practical reasons, increase their chances of landing a job if they do the following:

Get the inside scoop: Talk to an employee and get to know the company and the job profile. A job seeker who has done a basic 10-minute research about the company is clearly showing far more interest than other candidates, and in my review, I've seen almost 4 out 5 guys do not research about the company and the job profile. How you do this? Talk to an employee of that company, preferably, a team member or a person who is in a similar role as you.

"This can single-handedly hike your chances of killing it in the interviews by 80 per cent. Nowadays, if you don't know anyone (personally) in that company, you can search for that company online (over LinkedIn) and connect with relevant employees."

Take 15 minutes of their time: Ask What does the company/team do? What kind of tools do they use? What's the team size? What is this requisition about? What's a usual business day for an employee of your profile? Who are their customers? Who are their competitors?

What are the most important skills required on-the-job (client communication, some type of programming, coordination)? Do you know the hiring manager, what is his working style or what areas of work does he like most?

You can understand plenty of it from a company website, but that's not enough in my opinion because the website talks about their products in general and gives a salesy/markety angle. The real meat is in understanding what an employee actually does.

Know your hiring manager: The best candidate doesn't get the job, the guy who the hiring manager thinks is best gets the job. Now, this can be seen as "being political and shrewd". Let me tell you, it's good to be political and shrewd.

But, my point is not about trying to game-the-system, it is just that when you research about the hiring manager online, you get to know their areas of interest and that in turn will help you better prepare for the interview. It is statistically-true that people hire others who are very similar to them (w.r.t interest levels and knowledge-bent).

When an interview is scheduled, the HR is in a good position to tell you who is going to interview you, ask for their full name and designation. Look them up.

"A hiring manager doesn't select the best candidate for the job (just merit), s/he selects the candidate who s/he thinks is best (merit+bias). Two very different things."

For all you know, the hiring manager is a friend of your friend. There, go ahead and bribe him/her to get the job you want.

Or, you can find out about that person on LinkedIn or their online profiles/Quora /blogs to know what's their background. You may choose to furnish that you have looked them up during your interview. Hiring managers appreciate the effort.

By: Girish Mahadevan